Open access journal: http://periodicos.uefs.br/ojs/index.php/sociobiology ISSN: 0361-6525 DOI: 10.13102/sociobiology.v63i4.1360Sociobiology 63(4): 1073-1075 (December, 2016) New records of social wasps around Brasília (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Polistinae) From 1976 to 1998, social wasps were collected at various locations in the Federal District (an area of 5,822 km2) at altitudes of 900 to 1,100 m. Additional species in surrounding parts of Goiás State might also be present in the Federal District or might move there, so localities within 20 km of the State border were also surveyed. Only a standard entomological net was used to collect the wasps. The specimens are in the collections of the Universidade de Brasília and of Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. A total of 75 species in 18 genera have been recorded in and around Brasília. Of the 56 species of social wasps in 16 genera collected in the Federal District (Table 1), 9 are new records and some greatly extend the species ranges; some > 500 km. Some species are geographically widespread, some have restricted and some disjunct distributions. A further 19 species and 2 genera were found in neighbouring parts of Goiás State (Table 2). The species richness of the social wasps of the Federal District is substantially higher than has been recorded elsewhere Abstract The aim of the present work was to discover how many species inhabit the environs of Brasília. Being an approximate rectangle in the middle of the Cerrado biome, the Federal District of Brasília is a representative “quadrat” to sample the biome’s fauna. Sociobiology An international journal on social insects A Raw Article History Edited by Gilberto M. M. Santos, UEFS, Brazil Received 27 September 2016 Initial acceptance 20 October 2016 Final acceptance 19 November 2016 Publication date 13 January 2017 Keywords Paper wasps, swarm founding wasps, species substitution. Corresponding author Anthony Raw Departamento de Ciências Biológicas Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz CEP 45650-662 - Ilhéus-BA, Brasil E-Mail: anthonyraw2@gmail.com in the region (Diniz & Kitayama, 1998; Grandinete & Noll, 2013; Elpino-Campos et al., 2007; Pereira & Antonialli-Junior, 2011). Presumably, this greater species richness recorded from the Federal District is a result of two factors. First, the region surveyed comprises various types of habitat. There are gallery forests, forest margins, dry forests, cerrados and suburban gardens. Secondly, the survey was conducted, albeit with interruptions, over a period of more than twenty years. The prolonged collecting period substantially increased the previous species count. The present work adds nine species to the list of species known from the Federal District. Previous records are cited in four publications (Richards, 1978; Raw 1985, 1992, 1998). Two species, M. campestris and M. giffordi were new to science (Raw, 1985). A species cited as Epipona quadrituberculata (Gribodo, 1892) is now known to be Epipona media Cooper (2002). Some species occurring in central Brazil have broad geographical distributions (Richards, 1978), but Polistes satan, Universidade de Brasília, Departamento de Zoologia, Brasília-DF, Brazil SHORT NOTE A Raw – Social wasps around Brasília1074 Polistes billardieri (F) Brachygastra augusti (de Saussure) cinerascens de Saussure lecheguana (Latreille) davillae Richards moebiana (de Saussure) erythrocephalus Latreille Chartergellus communis Richards ferreri de Saussure Clypearia angustior Ducke geminatus Fox Epipona media Cooper goeldii (Ducke) tatua (Olivier) occipitalis Ducke Metapolybia cingulata (F) satan Bequaert Parachartergus fraternus (Gribodo) subsericeus de Saussure Polybia chrysothorax (Lichtenstein) versicolor (Olivier) dimidiata (Olivier) Mischocyttarus annulatus Richards emaciata Ducke campestris Raw fastidiosuscula de Saussure cassanunga (von Ihering) flavifrons Smith cerberus Richards ignobilis (Haliday) drewseni (de Saussure) jurinei de Saussure giffordi Raw liliacea (F) goyanus Zikán occidentalis (Olivier) latior (Fox) paulista von Ihering lecointei (Ducke) rejecta (F) marginatus (Fox) ruficeps Schrottky mattogrossoensis Zikán scrobalis Richards melanoxanthus Richards sericea (Olivier) rotundicollis (Cameron) Protonectarina sylveirae (de Saussure) Agelaia pallipes (Olivier) Protopolybia exigua (de Saussure) Angiopolybia pallens (Lepeletier) sedula (de Saussure) Apoica pallens (F) Pseudopolybia vespiceps (de Saussure) thoracica du Buysson Synoeca surinama (L) Table 1. List of the 56 species of social wasps recorded in and around the Federal District of Brasília. Mischocyttarus giffordi and M. Goyanus seem to be restricted to the higher altitudes of Goiás and Minas Gerais States and the Federal District of Brasília. Extensions of geographical range of several species are recorded. The closest that Polistes goeldii and M. annulatus had been recorded to Brasília is at “Base camp”, Mato Grosso, 540 km to the north-west (Richards, 1978). Polistes occipitalis is known from the states of Pará, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (op. cit.) so the closest previous known locality is at least 500 km away. Apparently, the distribution of Epipona media is disjunct; it has been found just 33 km south of the present Brasília record (Menezes et al., 2010). Mischocyttarus campestris was found recently on the Serra de Bodoquena, Mato Grosso do Sul (Auko, 2015). After creating so many permanently green areas in the Federal District over the past decades, some species have become more common in Brasília. Despite innumerable collections from 1976 to 1986,Clypearia angustior was never found in the region, but in 1987 it was locally common in the residential area of Lago Sul. It is known from Pará and São Paulo States and an undetermined locality in Minas Gerais State (Richards, 1978). Polistes carnifex (F) Metapolybia suffusa (Fox) melanosoma de Saussure Parachartergus smithii (de Saussure) Mischocyttarus frontalis (Fox) Polybia bifasciata de Saussure Agelaia flavipennis (Ducke) erythrothorax Richards multipicta (Haliday) quadricincta de Saussure vicina (de Saussure) striata (F) Apoica flavissima Van der Vecht tinctipennis Fox Chartergus artifex Christ Protopolybia chartergoides (Gribodo) globiventris de Saussure Pseudopolybia compressa (de Saussure) Charterginus fulvus Fox Table 2. List of the 19 species of social wasps recorded in Goiás State within 20 kilometres of the Federal District of Brasília. Sociobiology 63(4): 1073-1075 (December, 2016) 1075 Acknowledgements The assistance of the late Professor O. W. Richards was invaluable in the identifications. The University of Brasília provided me with the facilities to conduct this survey. Dr Alain Dejean, Université de Toulouse; Dr Christopher K. Starr, University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago and Dr Fernando Noll, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, provided invaluable comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. References Auko, T. H. (2015). Diversidade local e regional de vespas (Hymenoptera: Vespoidea) no Mato Grosso do Sul: com notas sobre a biologia de espécies solitárias. Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados, Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Unpublished thesis. Diniz, I. R. and K. Kitayama. (1998). 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